20-05-2008 EN Debates of the European Parliament 1 TUESDAY, 20 MAY 2008 IN THE CHAIR: MR MAURO Vice-President 1. Opening of the sitting (The sitting was opened at 9 a.m.) 2. Documents received: see Minutes 3. Action taken on Parliament’s resolutions: see Minutes 4. Debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (announcement of motions for resolutions tabled): see Minutes 5. Employment Policy Guidelines for Member States (debate) President. − The next item is the report (A6-0172/2008) by Mrs Van Lancker, on behalf of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, on guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States (COM(2007)0803 PART V – C6-0031/2008 – 2007/0300(CNS)). Vladimír Špidla, Member of the Commission. − (CS) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission’s December 2007 Strategic Report has sent a very positive message, which received the support of the European Council at its spring meeting in March 2008. The results of the Lisbon Strategy, in its 2005 renewed form, are already visible now at the end of the first three-year cycle. Economic growth and employment growth are impressive. Many indicators point to the fact that the structural reforms have started to produce results. Although all the Member States have been implementing reforms since 2005, some are doing better than others. A degree of fatigue in this area has become noticeable during the last year. However, Europe must not stop or slow down the pace. On the contrary, it is necessary to continue with reform implementation, preferably with even more gusto. This is the idea behind the Commission’s proposal on maintaining the key Integrated Guidelines – including the key employment guidelines – in their existing form until 2010. The Commission strongly believes that these key guidelines provide a proper framework for the present-day tasks of the European labour market, and that they serve their purpose. The European Council endorsed this at its spring meeting by opting for a general approach based on stability. Member States must be given the opportunity to finish the reforms they have begun, and they should also be given a timeframe within which the results of the reforms should show. The Commission also found that it was necessary to propose changes, with emphasis on certain important tasks that would be tackled in the near fu climate change, energy, social dimension and flexicurity. The Commission also expressed its wish to put more stress on the need for greater inclusion and more stringent implementation. As a result, the agreed goals and reference levels were included in the wording of the key guidelines. Anne Van Lancker, rapporteur. − (NL) Please allow me first and foremost to thank the Members with whom I have been able to collaborate on this report for their excellent cooperation. It is my belief that a few too many amendments have been made to details in the report, but nevertheless, Commissioner, the message must be clear: this European Parliament will not accept ‘business as usual’ on the European Employment Strategy. It is true that a great deal of work has yet to be done in the Member States in order to apply the guidelines in practice, but it is also true that the guidelines must be adapted in order to remedy a number of material shortcomings. I should like to mention three essentials. First of all, the Employment Strategy must be given a much stronger social dimension. There are still too many groups in society that do not share in the benefits of growth and jobs. Disabled people, migrants and semi- and unskilled workers are still all too often left to their fate, whilst we need everyone in society and everyone in the labour market. For that reason, the 2 EN Debates of the European Parliament 20-05-2008 Employment Strategy must also promote active social integration in order to combat poverty and social exclusion by offering a decent income and quality services together with an active policy of job-search assistance and training. Secondly: the quality of the work. Clearly, more jobs have been created, but for that reason they have not always been better jobs. Too many people remain tied against their will to precarious contracts, temporary jobs, involuntary part-time work or jobs that often guarantee them only an insufficient income. For that reason, the emphasis must be laid more upon the quality of jobs, on opportunities to progress into permanent jobs with a reliable income. The training efforts must be drastically increased and, above all, all workers, regardless of employment status, must be granted social rights. Flexibility is not the only thing required in the labour market; the workers also need more security. Thirdly: the gender perspective. Women have made a huge advance in the labour market, yet they are still far from achieving equal opportunities. The wage gap is still unacceptably wide. Women do not have the same access to training, nor the same opportunities to establish a business. Those who want to return to work after a career break find it increasingly difficult. Overcoming difficulties in order to reconcile a career and family life too often remains problem for women only, and they also often feel the consequences on their income during their retirement. It is for this reason that the Employment Strategy must devote particular attention to the gender perspective, in order to eliminate all inequalities between men and women. Finally, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the commitment of the Member States and the European Union to solid social legislation will make or break the Employment Strategy as a method. I hope, therefore, that all the Member States of the European Union will transpose and apply the European legislation consistently, and I also hope, Commissioner, that the Commission will soon – within a few months, maybe even within a few weeks – present us with an ambitious social agenda. I hope that both the June meeting of the Council and the Commissioner and Commission will listen to our message. Incidentally, it is regrettable, Mr President, that not a single representative of the Council Presidency is here, because this message is in fact primarily targeted at the June Council meeting, which must take definitive decisions on the Employment Strategy. I hope that someone will manage to convey Parliament’s message to them by then. Elisabeth Morin, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group. – (FR) Mr President, Commissioner, rapporteur, first I would like to express my thanks to the rapporteur, Anne Van Lancker, and to the members of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats for the high standard of consultation we engaged in together to come up with this text, which sums up our shared convictions and the way we would like to see the Employment Guidelines change. Growth in jobs in Europe, in accordance with the Lisbon strategy, should from now on be pursued taking account of three major recent or current changes. These are the globalisation of the economy, which forces Europe to be incisive from an economic point of view and from the point of view of developing employment; flexicurity, which is absolutely necessary for the development of our companies and therefore of employment; and, of course the construction of a social Europe. To achieve this, we introduced three particular highlights into this update of the Employment Guidelines. On the one hand, there is the very necessary fight to stop people leaving education systems without any qualifications. Leaving education without qualifications means not being equipped for integration into a job and therefore not having the resources for social integration. That is our first duty and we really need to work hard at it. The second point we need to be very concerned about is maintaining and developing lifelong learning, which is the only way of guaranteeing ongoing employability and mobility of employees. The third point concerns validation of acquired experience, which really enables employees to progress their careers, and also enables companies to adapt effectively to new requirements. We reached agreement on all these points, and I therefore thank the members of the PPE-DE Group for their support in today’s vote. Jan Andersson, on behalf of the PSE Group. – (SV) Mr President, when Anne Van Lancker began working on the European Parliament’s response, she planned to concentrate on a few important points, since we knew that both the Commission and the Council would propose that the guidelines should not be amended at all. 20-05-2008 EN Debates of the European Parliament 3 Our tactic was to concentrate on a small number of points in the hope that they might listen to at least some of what we had to say. It was not to be. Although the basic approach is the same, we now have masses of amendments instead of just a few. I think that it would have been better to concentrate on what Mrs Van Lancker said – that we clearly integrate the social dimension, a policy for all those who are outside the labour market and have no share in prosperity. Despite a favourable employment trend, we note that a great many of the new jobs are insecure and do not provide a living. The employment offers no security. And the discussion we have had on flexicurity should be reflected more clearly in the guidelines since it has been debated for several years. The same applies to the equality issues. The fact that the Council is not here, I think regrettably, is because the Council will not listen to anything Parliament has to say.